It's Interesting To Know

Ever since oil was discovered in the Sahara and other desert areas, the engineers have been troubled by one thing - sand! It blows into the pipes which bring the oil from the desert to the ports for shipment, and causes the pipes to become clogged!

So you'd imagine that the last thing an oil engineer wants is sand! But, believe it or not, people are actually digging the stuff up on the beaches of Norway and exporting it to - of all places - the Sahara desert! The reason? Because Norwegian sand is very fine and has been found to be the best possible material for cleaning out oil pipes which have been clogged by the much coarser sand of the Sahara! So sand has to be sent thousands of miles to cure the trouble which has been caused by - sand!

It's a strange world, isn't it?

8. Ответьте письменно на следующие вопросы:

1. When was niobium discovered? 2. Where is it used? 3. Where can deposits of columbite be found? 4. What trouble has sand been causing since oil was discovered in the Sahara desert? 5. Why do people export Norwegian sand to the Sahara desert?

ВАРИАНТ 4

1. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их, определив по грамматическим признакам, какой частью речи являются слова, оформленные окончанием -s, и какую функцию это окончание выполняет, т.е. служит ли оно:

1) показателем третьего лица единственного числа в Present Simple (Present Indefinite);

2) признаком множественного числа имени существительного;

3) показателем притяжательного падежа имени существительного.

1. Scientists' international ties help develop both science and friendship among people.

2. The development of machine building determines progress in other branches of the national economy.

3. High temperature influences the rate of this reaction.

2. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их, обращая внимание на особенности перевода на русский язык определений, выраженных именем существительным.

1. Oxford, famous for its oldest university in Britain, is now one of the most important centers of the motor-car industry.

1. The scientists developed new synthetic rubber products.

2. Our university library supplies the students with books and necessary information about them.

3. Составьте предложения из следующих слов, руководствуясь правилом о порядке слов в английском повествовательном предложении.

1. 1) chemistry, 2) she, 3) on, 4) every, 5) lectures, 6) day, 7) attends.

2. 1) they, 2) not, 3) laboratory, 4) in, 5) work, 6) the, 7) did, 8) yesterday.

3. 1) year, 2) will, 3) he, 4) from, 5) next, 6) graduate, 7) Institute, 8) the.

4. Перепишите следующие предложения; подчеркните в каждом из них глагол-сказуемое и определите его видо-временную ферму и залог. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1. The problem of the structure of matter is constantly occupying the minds of many scientists.

2. Professor N. was being listened to with great attention.

3. Now everything is being done to make the experiment in time.

4. Today scientists are still looking for the substance as a source of energy.

5. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их, учитывая различные значения слов that, those, one, ones.

1. One may expect that this substance dissolves easily in water.

2. Only one out of 100 million atoms of radium decomposes per second.

3. In the laboratory students learn to build modern plants and reconstruct old ones.

4. The solid that was used is highly soluble in water.

5. The density of ice is lower than that of liquid.

6. These words have much broader meanings than those indicated in the dictionary.

7. That the atmosphere is a mixture and not a chemical compound is proved in this chapter.

8. It is known that mass is a quantity of matter that makes a body.

6. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их, учитывая различные значения слова it.

1. It is very difficult for some people to master a foreign language.

2. This discovery was not a new one, but still it was very interesting.

3. It was very important to solve the problem in time.

4. It was the Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens, who offered an explanation for this phenomenon.

5. Try to answer all the questions, it is very important.

7. Прочтите и устно переведите тексты. Переведите письменно два последних абзаца текста It's Interesting To Know.

New Detergent Is Made From Sugar

A new detergent made from sugar is now testing the industrial market in the south of England. Tate and Lyle, scientists who devised the new product, believe that it may be the forerunner of a whole new chemical industry based on sugar rather than oil or coal.

The production of the detergent, which has been patented in 30 countries, is very simple. Sugar is reacted directly with tallow - a product made from animal fats - at the right temperature and with a catalyst, to produce a brown solid. There are no by-products of the reaction, so no need for expensive separation.

Because sugar is a minor component in the reaction and tallow is a low-cost product, Tate and Lyle believe that the new detergent can compete on price with conventional ones.

Tate and Lyle have also produced from sugar a range of chemicals which are being tested for pharmaceutical activity, and a sugar-based polyurethane foam similar in properties to conventional foam but fire-resistant. They believe that the scope for a sugar-based chemical industry is enormous and will have the advantage of being based on a renewable resources rather than on declining stocks of oil.